PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES AND TERRITORIES#35 - ALASKA

THE Russian navigators,
Chirikoff and Bering, were the
first Europeans to see the
Alaskan shore, reaching the lone
northland at different points in
1741. These intrepid and
ill-fated explorers were followed
by the Siberian fur-hunters. In
1799 the Emperor Paul of Russia
granted a twenty-year Charter to
the Russian-American Company,
whose iron-willed manager,
Baranoff, conquered the country
as far as Sitka, wiich was
founded in 1801, established a
colony in California, and opened
trade with China, Honolulu and
the Spanish colonies. Under the
strong influence of Seward and
Sumner, the United States bought
Alaska in 1867 for $7,200,000 in
gold. It has been said that the
gold mines of Alaska will produce
enough treasure to pay the
national debt. These rich
deposits were first discovered in
1877 at Silver Bay, near Sitka.
In 1880 Joseph Jumeau, a
French-Canadian miner, a nephew
of the founder of Milwaukee,
found free gold in great
quantities in the mountain-girt
Silver Bow Basin. Over $1,000,000
in dust has since been washed out
of these places. The fisheries
are of enormous value, and the
Government has received from the
seal islands a sum equal to that
which was paid for the Territory.
Four million seals visit the
Pribiloff Isles every summer, and
up to a recent date the number
was not decreasing, owing to the
prohibition of killing females.
Grave difficulties arose between
the United States and Great
Britain in 1889 by reason of the
American revenue cutters seizing
Canadian seal-vessels in these
waters.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Alaskans,
Indian Village in Background;
Granville Channel,
En Route to Alaska; Haunts of the
Sea Lion